Gundog's Duty
by veganmarine
Summary: Warhammer 40,000. Adventures of the Biennialis 1st Gundogs of the Imperial Guard. Contains ogryns and use of Valkyries. I'm using this to help improve my writing and hope to get better with each chapter.
1. Chapter 1

"We're gonna get in there, and we're gonna conquer, and we're gonna get some! In the name of the Emperor!" Bulldog said while chewing on a lit cigar. They were approaching the drop zone fast, Chukk and Mad Dog were standing by the rear hatch holding the fast-rope lines for the rapid insertion and the door gunners were standing ready on their heavy bolters.

Suddenly the Valkyrie tilted backwards and came to a hover, the pilot's voice sounding over their microbeads, "this is it fellers, go! Go! Go! Emperor be with you!" The heavy bolters had opened up, tracking back and forth quickly and firing in short bursts. Inhuman screeches could be heard over the drone of the gunship's engines.

Chukk and Mad Dog threw the ropes out the back and grabbed onto them, sliding down into the snow and bright sunshine. They ran clear before Jonas and Tigger come down next with the flamers. Two other Valkyries were hovering to either side of them, dropping off the majority of the platoon. Chukk and Mad Dog were already firing as fast as they could with their combat shotguns. Chaos flesh hounds ran past them, their red scaly skin being torn apart by the buckshot rounds.

Chukk's magazine ran dry and he pulled out his service laspistol, firing quickly at a flesh hound that pounced at him. It's bulk hit him, still half-alive until it was blown off by repeated blasts from Mad Dog's shotgun.

Jonas and Tigger started up their flamers and walked against the tide, sweeping lethal gouts of flame back and forth. Newton was next off the rope with his heavy flamer along with Bulldog himself. The snow field was already littered with dead flesh hounds as well as pieces of debris. The source of both was a mere hundred metres ahead of them: a crashed dropship, the cockpit buried under the snow and smoke issuing from the open rear hatch.

The tide of the Chaos monstrosities stopped just as the last of the squad hit the ground and the rope lines were detached. A good number of flesh hounds had run off into the snowy wastes and the three Valkyrie gunships turned to hunt them down as another two gunships touched down behind the first three squads.

Out of one of the gunships ran the meltagun squad as well as the platoon commander and his retinue. The standard bearer, Seri, extended the collapsable pole of the platoon banner as he ran, raising it into the air. The other gunship had a modified, larger hold and out of this came ten ogryns. Ten foot tall hulks of muscle loyal to the Imperium.

The platoon commander, Lieutenant Wulph, called over his vox-caster and the ogryn Sergeant, and Jolly came over to Bulldog to relay the message. "All squads form up in an offensive line, ogryns will lead the way up to the dropship, we are weapons free, Emperor protects."

The ogryns, led by Sergeant Vanxx, lumbered forwards, crushing flesh hound corpses beneath their massive boots and bellowing war cries. Bulldog formed his assault squad into a line between the melta squad on the left and grenadiers on the right. Further to the left was another assault squad with flamers and behind the line came the platoon command squad with the banner held high.

They were within thirty metres when the other occupents of the dropship revealed themselves, chaos cultists climbing out of the hatch, choking on the smoke and falling to the ground, their wretched half-starved bodies convulsing on the snow.

The ogryns were unforgiving, they new exactly what these cultists were and set upon them as such. The troopers could only fire off a few shots at the cultists before the ogryns charged into them, they smashed their bodies with their fists and their bulky ripper guns.

A few of the ogryns, Obbo, Cid and Krogg, climbed up into the dropship and started throwing more cultists out. Gunshots could be heard briefly from inside before they were silenced by bellows and crashes. The offensive line curved around the dropship but just let the ogryns do their work.

Obbo, Cid and Krogg climbed back out of the dropship, coughing and wheezing from the smoke and all the ogryns did their best at saluting as Wulph strode forwards and returned the salutes, "good work, are the pilots dead as well?"

"Smoke was coming from front part," Cid said, "not get in to see."

"They probably suffocated then, Delta squad set up a perimeter, everyone else take five," Delta, the grenadiers, spread out in a rough circle and kept an eye on the horizon though the flesh hounds that had run off were nowhere to be seen. Nor were the Valkyrie gunships that had set off to hunt them down.

Priest and Newton stood together by one of the cultist bodies, beaten and broken on the ground. Priest took out a deathstick and lit it on the still burning pilot light of Newton's heavy flamer. Newton licked the inside of his top lip and said, "you think all of the dropships are full of these things?"

Priest took a long drag off the deathstick and replied, "I hope not. I also hope they know where all of them landed."

"We know where most of them landed, and we just got word that their ship in orbit has been annihilated," Priest and Newton looked round to find Wulph standing with a cigar in hand, "mind if I make use of your pilot light Newton?"

They both saluted and Wulph returned it before Newton lifted his heavy flamer and Wulph lit the cigar. "How many sir?" Priest asked, "I hope they're all as easy as this one."

"This may have been a cakewalk relatively speaking but some of those things got away, they could turn up at nearby settlements. We'll have to hope they freeze to death or get found by our gunships first. As for your question, we know of three more, but there could be others. A lot of them were shot out of the sky by the fleet, bless the Emperor." Wulph waved over his vox-caster, Marshall, and took the handset from his pack, "patch me through to the Captain, we're done here. Secs can come in to remove the wreckage and clean up."

About an hour later the Valkyries were called back, reporting twenty-seven confirmed kills, and the platoon loaded up again. The Chaos ship in orbit was in a thousand pieces slowly falling towards the planet surface and every Sergeant was standing by their vox-caster in their gunships waiting for orders.

"The other known dropships have been cleared, but we're spreading out across settlements that might have had landings near them that we didn't track," the Lieutenant said over the vox, which Jolly had set on speaker in their Valkyrie. Which was dubbed Grasshopper Two. "Your pilots are being given the coordinates from up the chain. When you arrive at your designated settlement you are to listen for, watch for, and immediately report any Chaos activity and friendly forces will hurry to support you. Ogryns will be spread amongst you for support. Wulph, out."

Jolly turned off the loudspeaker and they all grabbed handhelds in the roof of the compartment. Bulldog pressed the transmit button on the left side of his helmet for the short-range microbead communicators so he could talk to the pilot. "Well Dice, where are we headed?"

The pilot's voice came in reply just as the Valkyrie lifted off from the snow, "little town called Obinville. No ogryn settlement nearby, it's a way-station for minerals being transported over to the starport. Spades is from there if I recall."

The gunner, Spades, cut in over the link, "yeah, I helped build half those buildings then joined the ess-effs when there was no work left for me. Got brought to Forsheth and ended up with you fine fellers."

"It's a four hour flight from here though, so you boys might want to sit down," Dice said and everyone groaned, though it was lost over the noise of the engines. The door gunners folded down seats from the bulkhead and strapped themselves in for the long ride.

Bulldog hoped the duty was as boring as it sounds, but had a feeling the worst was yet to come. 


	2. Chapter 2

Grasshopper Two touched down on a landing pad by a Security Department building near the center of Obinville. Every Security Department had one even if they didn't have a Valkyrie gunship themselves.

The door gunners stowed the heavy bolters and closed the side doors while Bulldog led the squad out of the rear hatch. Everyone was stretching their legs after the long flight, and the pilots were climbing down from the cockpit.

"Jolly, Chukk, with me, we're going to check in with the ess-dee." There were murmurs of acknowledgement and Jolly and Chukk hurried over. Chukk was tightening the straps again on his armour plates, having loosened them for the trip.

They opened the door and walked into the brightly lit interior. There was nobody behind the reception desk. Chukk called out, "yo, anybody home?" They waited for a moment with no response so Bulldog went into the side office, which was also empty.

"This ain't right, there should always be someone on station," Jolly said, and went down the corridor to the back offices. Chukk and Bulldog instinctively unslung their combat shotguns and Bulldog keyed his microbead, "everyone stand fast, might have a situation, might be nothing, but keep an eye out."

Jolly came back into the reception area shaking his helmeted head, "ain't no one here sarge. Think they're on patrol? Could be short staffed."

"Come to think of it, did you guys see anyone in the street?" Chukk said. They looked at each other for a moment then went back outside, looking up and down the snow covered street. There were a few stationary vehicles but absolutely no people.

Bulldog pulled the stock of his combat shotgun into his shoulder and pumped the grip, chambering a shell with a 'cha-chak' and led them back to the others, looking around cautiously. The rest of the squad were crouched in the snow in a perimeter around the Valkyrie. The pilots were back in the cockpit and the door gunners had unstowed the heavy bolters again.

Bulldog led them inside the defensive perimeter and turned to Jolly, "get me the el-tee and we'll see what he says." Jolly typed a couple commands on his wrist panel and Bulldog took the handset from the vox-unit on his back. "Third-Alpha to Third-Boss, come in Boss," Bulldog paused and heard no response, "Jolly, you sure you got this tuned in right?"

Jolly checked his wrist panel, brushing snowflakes off the readout screen, "you're on the right channel. There must be interference."

"Fak. Ok, let's think, we could send the Grasshopper to carry a message, or... No wait, we'll wait until our ogryns are dropped off and we'll send back a message with them." Bulldog said, and keyed his microbead, "Dice, when can we expect our ogryns to turn up?"

"Being Third-Alpha, they're coming here first, just moving a little bit slower than us because of the extra weight, they'll be here any minute though," came the reply.

"Well that's good news at least," Chukk said. They could hear engines approaching already and soon Grasshopper Five appeared over the low buildings and came to a hover a foot above the snow of the street. Two of the ten foot tall ogryns jumped out, the dark skinned Cid and fair skinned Bakk.

Bulldog keyed his microbead before the Valkyrie took off again, "hey Grasshopper Five, I need you to relay a message."

"Copy that Three-Alpha," came the low, grumbly voice of the pilot, Firefakker. "We're being logged on our black box, what's the message?"

"Situation follows: Obinville appears deserted, long-range comms are facing interference, will scout the area and send Grasshopper Two to call for help if the situation requires it. Will make contact if we find the source of interference and remove it." Bulldog said, "no sign of hostiles when we flew over, you see anything?"

"Not a thing, we'll relay that message Three-Alpha," Firefakker replied then the Valkyrie lifted off into the air and disappeared over the tops of the buildings. Cid and Bakk lumbered over to them and Cid saluted while Bakk just smacked his hand into the side of his head.

"Cid and Bakk reporting as ordered!" Cid said and Bulldog saluted back.

Bulldog keyed his microbead, "ok people, this place seems dead, and our long-range comms are blocked. We need to find out what's going on. I'm taking Jolly, Newton and Skyke one way. I want Chukk, Jonas, Tyke and Bakk to go down that market street opposite us. Mad Dog, Professor, Tigger and Cid, go the other way. Check out anything suspicious. Dice, I want you in the air checking out the area, look for any signs of movement. Let's move it people!"

The squad split up and the Valkyrie took off and slowly moved across the rooftops. Mad Dog led his group along the snow covered road. The sun was starting to set now, the buildings casting half the street into shadow. They looked inside some windows and found no one inside.

After a little while they came to a combined diner and fuel station and walked over. There were a few vehicles parked outside as well as one that still had it's engine running, about to turn onto the road but with no one inside. The driver's side door was open. Professor reached inside and turned off the ignition.

"Think there's still food out in the open in that diner?" Tigger asked, licking his lips.

"Maybe, hang on a second," Mad Dog keyed his microbead, "Sarge we've found a diner here, should we go inside and check it out?" There was no reply, "Sarge do you read me? Come in Bulldog." There was still no reply. "Guess whatever's blocking the long-range comms does the same for our microbeads if we get too far apart."

"Let's see anyway," Cid said and lumbered towards the diner's front door. The others followed. The windows were frosted over but from the little they could see, there was no movement. Cid pushed his way through the doors and they entered.

The lights flickered every few seconds, threatening to cut out completely and leave them in a twilight. There was still food on a few of the tables, as well as mugs of caffeine and cups of sugary liquids. A small shrine was in the corner where transport drivers could make quick prayers before getting back on the road.

Professor dipped two fingers into one of the cups of caffeine, "this one's still hot, they couldn't have left long ago." Cid went into the kitchen at the back with his ripper gun held ready. Mad Dog and Tigger checked the restrooms while Professor looked under the tables. It wasn't until he'd reached the other side of the diner that he called out, "found something!"

The others came back in, Cid with a mouthful of vegetables from the kitchen. Professor held up his find, a black bodied laspistol, loaded and cocked with the safety off. Professor promptly flipped the safety on and looked under the nearest table. Leaving the laspistol on top he reached under and pulled out a black helmet with a riot face-shield.

"Sec-officer helmet, and that must have been his pistol. The shield has a pretty big scuff mark," Professor said.

Mad Dog took the helmet from him and looked at the mark. A sound came across their microbeads, distant at first but resolved into Dice's cocky voice, "-ay again, does anybody read me, over. I say again-"

"This is Mad Dog, we read you, we're at a diner slash fuel station. If you can see one, that's probably us," the sound of the Valkyries engines gradually came into existence and they all made their way outside. Tigger grabbed a plate and a fork off of one of the tables, letting his flamer hang across his front by it's sling.

"I see you down there Mad Dog. That interference is workin' on our short range comms as well eh? You want us to give any messages to the others if we fly over'em?"

"We found a Security Officer's pistol and helmet in this diner, but no other signs of a struggle. Caffeine's still hot too, so they must have left not long ago. That's all really," Mad Dog said.

"Copy that, we'll see you fellers when we see you," Dice replied and flew slowly away again.

Tigger put the now empty plate on the step of the diner, "what now? Walk in a random direction?"

"Yeah, sounds about right," Mad Dog said and they set off down the street again. As they walked they all glanced around at the buildings along the street. As they passed a tailor's shop and Mad Dog glanced at it, he saw the door open very slightly, then close again. He held a fist up level with his head. Everyone stopped.

Mad Dog pointed at the door to the tailors and they moved over to it and stacked up. Tigger and Professor stood on either side of the door looking down the street in both directions, Mad Dog and Cid stood at the door and Mad Dog reached out and tried the door handle with his shotgun aimed at the door.

It wouldn't open, he tapped Cid on the arm and the ogryn bent down so Mad Dog could say quietly to him, "smash the door and head inside, don't shoot unless I say so." The ogryn nodded and took a step forward to the door. He then swung his massive steel-tipped right boot forward and smashed the door in two, running in.

Mad Dog was right behind him, and they were in the room, dully lit as the windows were mainly blocked by clothes and sewing equipment. The room was devoid of people but a door at the back was open. Mad Dog rushed over to it and Cid followed, behind the door were stairs leading up a level, they ran up them and a couple broke under Cid's feet.

At the top of the stairs was another door, this one was also locked and this time Mad Dog just fired a shell at the lock and kicked it open, storming into the room beyond. It was almost as large as the room downstairs, with two beds, a kitchen area and a door to a bathroom. Again, there was no one inside. Mad Dog and Cid moved around the room cautiously, keeping their weapons up and ready.

Mad Dog checked the bathroom and the one cupboard. He glanced under the bed but there was nothing but boxes, "who's here?" He shouted, slowly aiming his combat shotgun across the room, "if you're a civilian, we're here to protect you."

Cid said, "maybe no one here," and lowered his ripper gun. Mad Dog wouldn't give up so easily, he looked under the other side of the bed, more boxes. But they seemed to be small boxes. He pulled a couple out and found the person that had opened the door.

It was a small girl, no more than eight years old, with her eyes screwed tight and a soft toy kriegshund in her arms. Mad Dog put his shotgun on top of the bed and reached out to her, "we're not here to hurt you, we're Guardsmen, we came here to protect you." He touched her arm and she recoiled away.

"Maybe Cid try," Cid said and pulled Mad Dog out of the way, laying down on the floor so he could see under the bed. "Hello," Cid said and smiled, revealing several missing teeth. The girl opened her eyes and stared at him. "We here to help, but we don't know where people are, do you know where people are?" The girl just kept staring at him.

Cid kept smiling, "I have sister, small as you. She called Dant, what your name?" Cid asked.

The girl said quietly, "Eva," and hid her face behind the soft toy.

"Want to come out?" Said Cid, "Cid promise not to hurt you."

The girl slowly unhid her face and looked at Cid, he smiled and she slowly crawled out from under the bed. Cid stood up to give her room and she stood before them. She wore the same padded clothes as most of the inhabitants of Biennialis but there were several brightly coloured flower shapes sewn into her padded coat.

Cid put his free hand on her shoulder gently and reassuringly and Mad Dog crouched down to talk to her, "Eva, we need to know where all the people are. Can you tell us?"

"Bad men came," she said quietly, "pa told me to hide, while he led them away."

"What did these men look like?" Mad Dog asked softly.

"They wore red, and masks," she said and hid her face again.

"Sounds like the Chaos guys we were to watch for alright," Mad Dog said to Cid, "come on, let's go out to the others." They went back down the stairs to find Tigger and Professor standing in the room covering the door and the stairs.

"We didn't hear gunshots, so we figured you didn't find anyone," Tigger said, then on seeing the girl added, "who's this?"

"Eva. We'll take her with us for now, she was hiding. Said she saw men in red with masks, I'm thinking another dropship came down near here," Mad Dog said. They went outside just as a gunshot sounded in the distance. Then another, then a burst on full auto, "fak, that's coming from where Chukk's group went!"

They took off as fast as they could in the snow, Cid carrying the girl. The sun was now being blotted out by clouds and it was starting to snow. The gunshots continued and then what sounded like a heavy bolter joined them.

As they rounded a corner they saw Grasshopper Two hovering up ahead with the door gunner opposite them firing. The angle at which it was hovering, coupled with the teeth painted on the nose, made it look like it was spitting fire.

When they got close Mad Dog ordered them to stop, "Professor, stay here with Eva. Stay out of sight, everyone else with me." Cid put down the girl who hid between two buildings with Professor. Mad Dog waved for Tigger to get up front with his flamer while they followed.

Bursts of static were coming over their microbeads now, until suddenly a voice broke through, "-ile launcher, concentrate fire on that missile-OH FAK!" The Valkyrie suddenly tipped backwards and slid through the air a good twenty metres as a missile flew through where it had just been. The door gunner facing them would have fallen out if he wasn't linked to the interior bulkhead with a harness.

Tigger got up to the corner of the building and sidestepped out with his flamer ready then stepped back, "down the street, can't flame'em from here, left side, Chukk and the others are on the right behind a tracked vehicle." Mad Dog looked out, and saw tracers flying back and forth across the street between a bar and what looked like a heavy duty hauler.

As an assault team they were all armed with either combat shotguns or flamers, even so Chukk's team should be in range. Mad Dog looked again and saw that they were thoroughly pinned, Tyke was bleeding on the floor with Chukk and Jonas trying to patch the wound while Bakk was firing around the hauler when he could, his arm bleeding from a wound already.

"Stay with me, we'll cross the street, get up to the window then Tigger can hit it with the flamer, go it?" Tigger and Cid nodded and they ran across the street. Mad Dog keyed his microbead, "Chukk, we're coming up on your left, hold your fire to the left got it?"

"Got it!" Came the strained reply, just as the Valkyrie came back over the street. The door mounted heavy bolter fired down at the bar again but couldn't hit the occupents within from such a high angle. The door gunner ceased fire as they got up to the front of the bar, the windows were all shattered and Mad Dog waved Tigger up.

Tigger fired the flamer across the front of the bar then walked out, sweeping it further and further back into the building. Screams could be heard and Tigger reversed his movements until he shut off the spray of fire and got back into cover. Mad Dog waved Cid forward next, "you're up Cid, clear it out!"

Cid bellowed a war cry and ran inside, there were no shots or crashes and he came out again shortly after, "they all dead," he stated, "but there a door, should check?"

"Yeah, let's get to it," Mad Dog said then called out to the others, "Chukk! Can we borrow Bakk? And is Tyke ok?"

"Tyke's fine, just a flesh wound, right feller?" Bakk lumbered out from behind the hauler and they went inside the bar. The inside was completely blackened and some parts were still on fire, including the charcoal bodies of the cultists that had been firing out. They coughed from the building smoke and hurried to check the rest of the building. Through the door at the back, which Mad Dog kicked open, were some stairs and a rest room.

Mad Dog indicated for Cid and Tigger to go upstairs. Tigger pulled out his laspistol for clearing the rooms and they moved up the stairs as quietly as they could. Mad Dog and Bakk moved to the restroom door, Bakk hefting his ripper gun fine despite his injury. There was a faint humming sound coming from behind the door. Mad Dog kicked it open and rushed inside.

The room was clear but it wasn't until Bakk stepped in and there was a crunch that the humming stopped. They both looked down and Bakk lifted his foot, underneath was a complex looking machine that was completely crushed. A wire led from it to an aerial standing in the corner. Bulldog's voice came over Mad Dog's microbead, "whatever was blocking our comms just stopped, and we're in contact with the townsfolk, Mad Dog we're outside with Chukk."

Mad Dog led Bakk back outside just as Cid and Tigger came down from the upstairs. Outside Tyke was standing with a bandage on his arm between the shoulder pouldron and forearm bracer of his carapace armour. Bulldog was standing with the handset from Jolly's vox-set and Grasshopper Two was touching down next to them on the street. Eva and Professor were standing with them.

It was snowing heavier now and it was getting darker. Bulldog was listening intently to the handset for a few moments then he said, "got it, we'll be there shortly," and put the handset back on Jolly's vox-set. Bulldog waved them into the Valkyrie and they loaded up, Cid and Bakk having to crouch low to fit in the normal sized compartment. Bulldog keyed his microbead, "Spades, you remember where the storage depot is?"

"Sure do," the Valkyrie gunner replied.

"That's where they're hiding out, in the silos, direct Dice to take us over there. Land on the main cargo elevator, they've got control of it, they'll lower us down into the silo with them. Apparently cultists have been trying to get in through the main silo doors for about an hour." Bulldog said and they took off from the street.

After a few minutes Dice spoke over their microbeads, "no sign of anyone on the outside. Landing on the main cargo lift now, tell them to take us down."

Bulldog took the handset from Jolly and said, "we're just touching down now, there's no sign of anyone out here, bring us down."

"Sure thing feller, we're real glad to have you here," the reply came and just as they touched down the huge elevator started descending. As it reached the lower level, secondary doors to protect from snow closed above them. Dice idled down the engines and everyone disembarked.

The silos were packed with people, some with a few possessions important to them. Many people looked distraught. A Security Officer ran forward to meet them, "who's the see-oh?" He asked.

"That'd be me, call me Bulldog," Bulldog said, "shouldn't these silos be full of something?"

"Mineral ore normally, but they're empty this time of year, we figured it'd be the best place to hide-out when we saw those fakkers coming," the officer replied.

"Eva!" Someone shouted and an old, frail looking man with a white mustache and spectacles came out of the crowd. The girl ran from the group of Guardsmen and hugged him, "you rescued my Eva!" The man said, "bless you! Bless all of you!"

"We have to get moving, the doors won't hold much longer," the officer said and they followed him through one of the silos, past more groups of people to one of the main doors. As they approached there was banging and shouting coming from the other side. There were cracks in the rockcrete around the frame of the door.

Several Security Officers were standing around with black-bodied laspistols and one of them had a black-bodied riot shotgun. Another officer missing his helmet was sitting at a vox-unit on a crate used as a desk, he said, "the cavalry have arrived! So what's the plan?"

"Do you know how many of them there are?" Bulldog asked, "or what sort of heavy firepower they may have?"

"There were maybe fifty of them running screaming into town, heard them from a while off and got everyone in here," the officer said. Bulldog didn't ask why the officer's pistol and helmet were back in the diner for fear of embarrassing him.

"We neutralized maybe ten and took out what they were using to block our comms," Bulldog said, "so that still leaves about fourty, fak."

"May I be of assistance?" Someone said and they all looked round, a man dressed in a padded purple jacket over purple robes with a scruffy beard was standing in the doorway to the rest of the silo.

"This is father Samman, he's been leading us in prayer regularly. It's been a great comfort to most of the people in here."

"I said the holy God-Emperor would send his servants to rescue us, and he has," the man said with a smile.

"Yes father, and we're glad we're here," Bulldog said and there was a massive bang on the door, more of the rockcrete around the frame cracked away. "Fak, they're gonna get through. Flamers up front, when that door breaks burn for five then ogryns charge through, everyone else back them up. You secs stay behind us as a last line of defence. Father, if you'd like to read a prayer, we'd be honoured, but you need to be quick."

There were a chorus of acknowledgements and everyone got into their positions, there were more bangs on the other side of the door and it jutted out slightly. Father Samman started his prayer, "oh God-Emperor, hear us from your golden throne on holy Terra, heed our call, we beg for your strength in our darkest hour." More bangs on the door and more muffled shouting, the door jutted out further.

The father continued, "we are devout in our faith in you, oh holy Emperor, but our foes are not!" The doors buckled and a gap opened up at the top, the shouts could be heard clearly now, an inhuman tongue that burned their ears but the father continued, louder than before. "Holy Emperor, give us your strength, and in your name, we shall smite them!"

The doors fell open and the cultists poured forth, screaming in triumph for a fraction of a second before the combined blasts from Newton's heavy flamer and Jonas and Tigger's regular flamers incinerated them. They continued the blast for five seconds aas instructed then stopped and ran to the sides of the room so that Cid and Bakk could charge forward.

The ogryns' massive boots squashed the burnt bodies underfoot, some of them still writhing in pain, while the ogryns fired on full auto with their ripper guns. The cultists that were far enough back to survive the flames were torn apart by the lethal blasts. The ripper guns ran dry and the drum magazines detached automatically but there was no time to reload.

Cid threw a left hook at a cultist and pulverised his skull while Bakk swung his ripper gun in a wide arc, smashing the bones of three more cultists. The rest of the squad was right behind them, blasting anything that moved with their combat shotguns. The battle lasted for one and a half minutes. The squad cleared the rest of the building while the Security Officers kept the entrance to the silo secure, but there were no more cultists to be found.

As people made their way back to their homes through the heavy snow and the now reasonably heavy fog, Three-Alpha piled the cultist bodies up to be burnt down to ash, and apologised to the bar owner and the tailor, promising to repair the latter's doors.

Lieutenant Wulph said they'd send a couple more grasshoppers to search the area for the dropship as soon as the weather conditions would allow it. Hastily made up, and terribly sang, songs were sung about the 'heroes of Obinville' in the other, unburnt, bar. Three-Alpha, Cid, Bakk, Dice, Spades, and the door gunners had drinks bought for them until eventually they all passed out except for Cid and Bakk who fell asleep. 


End file.
